University of Kentucky anthropologist is using radar in the search for Melanie Flynn.

A University of Kentucky anthropologist is helping Lexington police in their renewed search for Melanie Flynn who disappeared in 1977, and is using radar and other special equipment.

Both Lexington police and Kentucky State Police officers have recently been digging at a former campground called Murphy’s Landing on the Kentucky River in Mercer County.

The two police agencies renewed the search recently after receiving separate but similar tips from elderly men who said they were told she was dead and had been buried in the area, perhaps in a septic hole.

Flynn, 24, was from a prominent Lexington family and investigators have for years looked into whether her disappearance was tied to a group of Lexington law enforcement officers who fell into the illegal drug trade.

George Crothers, Director of UK’s William S. Webb Museum of Anthropology and Associate Professor of Anthropology, said Wednesday that he twice recently took equipment to Murphy’s Landing to help search for her remains and he expects to return to the site.

“We have ... equipment that can help determine what might be buried in the ground, ground-penetrating radar is one of those instruments,” said Crothers. The other is called a magnetometer.

The ground-penetrating radar is basically measuring differences in the electrical properties in the ground, he said. The magnetometer is measuring differences in the magnetic properties in the ground.

The radar can tell him whether there are changes in the soil and would make it possible to find something like a building foundation or a tank, Crothers said. Additionally, objects that are buried will have a distinctive magnetic strength.

“We were primarily trying to see where the structures stood out there, and what else might be buried ...like utility lines, septic systems,” said Crothers.

He said searchers found some items that could be related to a septic system — “they’ll target those areas, it narrows down the areas they’ll look at.”

Earlier in July, Lexington police detectives asked the public for historic photos of Murphy’s Landing.

Lexington police spokeswoman Brenna Angel said Wednesday that Flynn’s remains have not been found.

“Detectives will continue to follow up on leads as evidence or information presents itself,” Angel said.

This story was originally published July 31, 2019 at 3:16 PM.